IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Smart cities are here, and they are getting smarter by the day with the support of 5G.

5G is the fifth generation of mobile technology and next progression in mobile networks. The technology is designed to meet the continuing growth in data and connectivity in our society, including the Internet of Things (IoT) and tomorrow’s innovations.

As the roll out of 5G infrastructure continues across Australia, there is a growing opportunity for councils to develop smart city strategies that leverage the 5G network to expand the usage of data, sensors, and other smart devices to improve city operations and, ultimately, the lives of citizens.

Australia’s National Blood Authority saves A$10m as mobile and data innovations inject efficiency into the supply chain

Few organisations invest heavily in IT to make sure their clients use less of their product, but that’s the battle Australia’s National Blood Authority (NBA) is fighting – and winning – as it leans heavily on data and mobile technology innovations to optimise a real-time supply chain that involves most of Australia’s more than 1,300 hospitals.

On Monday morning we hosted a parliamentary delegation on transport safety and in the afternoon welcomed a senior leadership group from the NSW Police.

On Tuesday morning we scoped a data analytics project with a major telco and a large logistics company.

Roxon told journalists at a press conference in Sydney yesterday (see video above) that the project would see Australians access their electronic health record online through a system run by Medicare.

“The easiest way to think of it is how you access your bank details online,” she said.

This innovation is a breakaway from traditional thinking of how lighting poles are constructed. It's a change in form & function, totally transforming the pole This is a smart and elegant design with multi-function capability. The design's modularity and potential for customisation are very strong features as is the capacity to hide all wiring internally.” — The Good Design Awards Jury

‘iCore® Smart IoT Urban Pole’ and ‘iCore® Smart IoT Street Pole’ Recognised in Australia’s International Good Design Awards for Design Excellence.

In his report published today, Ovum's Dr Steve Hodgkinson, Research Director for Asia-Pacific IT research, says the survey of 63 CIOs completed before the third SE-Corp CIO Strategy Summit in Melbourne in February, reveals that “despite media hype to the contrary, ICT remains predominantly an in-house affair for Australian CIOs.”

ICT spending by the Australia healthcare industry is currently dominated by investments in telecommunications and hardware, accounting for 33.5% and 31.8% of healthcare industry spending on ICT in 2013 respectively. However, both telecommunications and hardware are expected to show negative CAGRs over the forecast period, in part reflecting the pattern in overall market growth for the telecommunications and hardware technology segments, but also reflecting the maturity of the healthcare ICT market in Australia, where the infrastructural investments have already been made.

Beyond the politics, it is worth taking a moment to reflect that ICT has certainly come a long way from its earlier backroom geeky image. These days, the Australian community is quite comfortable about having a grown-up discussion about broadband speeds and coverage, and no political party can afford to be caught unprepared on key technology issues.

In the post-election carve-up, both sides of politics have assigned experienced ministers to lead the charge on communications policy, and both have nominated broadband as one of the key battlegrounds for winning or retaining government.

Rolling out a state-wide electronic health record system is no mean feat for the CIO of SA Health, David Johnston. The government organisation last month switched on enterprise patient administration system (EPAS) that is set to transform 12 hospitals across South Australia.

“This would be the largest IT-enabled project that the state has ever undertaken,” Johnston told CIO Australia. “It’s a significant initiative because it means that if it works here then it’s completely applicable to other states or countries, other jurisdictions.

Dr Sandra Haukka, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), said seniors, particularly pensioners, risked being left behind as businesses and governments shifted more services to the web.

"With the government and private sector spending billions on the National Broadband Network, we have to make sure that the internet can be used by all those who need it the most," she said.

During the initial wave of digital-transformation efforts, Australia developed an international reputation as an early leader. That peaked in around 1999.

While the different tiers of government (local, state and federal) and individual agencies have developed some impressive e-government platforms, a joined-up approach to e-government has so far remained elusive.

Before smart cities are built and citizens are 'Uberised', a trust framework for data sharing needs to be established in Australia, according to the non-profit body representing IoT in Australia.

Issues around technical standards, data sharing, and application interoperability require the government's attention if Australia wants to effectively grow smart infrastructure and smart cities using the Internet of Things (IoT), according to not-for-profit body IoT Alliance Australia (IoTAA).

Mobile health can be an effective tool to address Australia’s healthcare challenges, however, adoption is fraught with obstacles and continues to be skewed towards consumer ended offerings, research analyst firm Frost & Sullivan said in a report.

A key issue is access to timely and, which it says can potentially be addressed by enhancing and improving communication between providers and patients using mobile health (mHealth).

Does the ICT skills shortage exist? As is so often the case, answers to that question tend to start with “it all depends what you mean by …”

“There is an ongoing strong demand for ICT skills across many industry verticals. The NBN and high-speed broadband applications, mobility convergence, e-health, e-security and other initiatives continue to drive demand for ICT skills,” said Alan Patterson, CEO of the Australian Computer Society.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) said implementation of a national e-health strategy would provide benefits worth 28 billion Australian dollars (26 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight years.

Making e-health efficient will require both private and public investment, the group argued.

“We are pleased to see that the Coalition has now publicly released its policy and announced the need for immediate action to address Australia’s recent and alarming deterioration in global rankings with regard to our digital competitiveness and innovation,” said Peter Lee, CEO of the IIA.

Australia has thrown its support behind the smart city development in Preah Sihanouk. This statement was made on a Facebook post of the Australian Embassy on June 30.

In the recent “Smart City Initiative Prioritisation Workshop” organized by Australia’s flagship AU$ 49 million Investing in Infrastructure (3i) programme, with the Preah Sihanouk provincial administration, the Second Secretary of the Australian Embassy, Mr. Anthony Samson, said, “The smart city project selection is a crucial step in our smart city cooperation, as well as in Australia’s efforts

Customers can use the ‘QuickPay Station’ to new vehicle registrations and driver licenses online. The kiosk aims to help citizens who do not have easy access to phone or the internet at home. According to a publication by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 79 per cent of the households in Northern Territory had access to the internet at home in 2010-11 (compared to 93 per cent for the entire country).